Parliamentary enclosure

Parliamentary enclosure is characterised by regular, rectangular fields with straight boundaries and often with contemporary roads or trackways. This reflects the planned nature of enclosure undertaken by surveyors. Most parliamentary enclosure is found in North Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes where it is still the dominant historic landscape type in many rural parishes. 

Enclosure awards and maps provide specific date of origin and original form for the fields. Generally the process of Parliamentary enclosure occurs throughout Buckinghamshire from c. 1738 - c. 1860 but its progress can be defined in two phases: First the large-scale enclosure of open fields on a parish by parish basis, predominantly in the Vale of Aylesbury. A second phase, occurring from the early to mid 19th century saw the piecemeal enclosure of commons and wastes, much of this happening in the Chilterns and South Buckinghamshire.

Some of the best surviving Parliamentary enclosure often coincides with the preservation of ridge and furrow such as the parishes of Ludgershall and North Marston. While 20% of deserted medieval villages are also found on this landscape type. Pre-medieval sites may survive as buried remains. The enclosure of former commons in the Chilterns may also contain archaeological remains of extractive industries.